What I Never Saw Coming
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: When the circumstances in their parents' kingdoms force Hiccup and Merida into an arranged marriage, neither is happy about it. Can they realize that even though what they got isn't what they bargained for... it might be just what they need? Probable five-shot challenge from Challenge King; rating may go up.
1. Hiccup

Merida Dunbroch stared at her mother from across the table, feeling an all too familiar sense of horror well up in her. "What do you mean 'married'?! I thought that we went over this last year, Mum!"

"Merida," Elinor sighed as she tried to reason softly with her daughter. "Times have changed; you know that."

"So you're just going to forget last year… Mor'du… you turning into a bear yourself?! All of that's just gone now?!"

"Merida," When Elinor looked at her daughter, Merida could've sworn that she was tears in her mother's brown orbs, but she told herself that she didn't care. Not this time. "You know full well that the Dingwall clan was unhappy with the outcome of the games that we held for your hand last year; they felt snubbed and have been threatening to act on it ever since. You _do_ remember this, don't you?"

Merida shrugged, trying to appear like she didn't care as much as she knew she should. "And?"

"And they're starting to act on their threats. They're gathering for a war against clan Dunbroch, and we have to do something about it."

"So, you're going to, to what? Marry me off to stupid Wee Dingwall just to get them to quiet back down?"

"No, that's why you should have let me finish." Elinor took a deep breath and sat up straight, explaining, "There is a viking island by the name of Berk, and people there are masters at mechanical weaponry and weapon-making, but they have a hard time growing food in such a cold climate. The village chieftain, Stoic the Vast, and your father and I have come to the agreement that we will make a treaty between our clan and his village. We get his weaponry to scare off clan Dingwall, and he gets our food. It's simple enough."

"And this has to involve a marriage why exactly?" Merida asked sharply.

"Because a marriage is the best and most lasting way to ensure that both parties carry out their side of the agreement; you're aware of that. Things become more personal when the future of your children and grandchildren are involved."

"Grandchildren!" Merida screeched before turning to her father as her last hope. "Da!"

"Fergus," Elinor said.

The king flushed as he looked between the two of them, then shifted and said softly, his very posture conveying how sorry he was for the words that were about to come out of his mouth. "Listen to your mum, Merida."

Merida gaped at him before turning sharply back to her mother. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared darkly as she declared, "I'll kill myself if you try to make me go through with this."

"Merida!" Elinor exclaimed. "Listen to me! I know it's hard, sweetheart – you will recall that my marriage to your father was arranged as well – but it cannot be helped this time. This time it's bigger than just clan traditions. You must go through with this – and just know, if you do kill yourself, clan Dingwall will kill your clan, your family, anyway. The weaponry from Berk is the only way that we can even hope to avoid an all-out war between our clans. I'm truly sorry, but it must be done. Yes, I know full-well that you are entitled to your own opinions, but, as a princess, you are still not always entitled to your own actions. You can't do what you want this time. Please, Merida," Elinor implored. "Be mature about this; don't make it any harder than it already has to be."

Merida sighed in resignation, hearing – yet still hating – the truth in her mother's words. "What's his name? The man that I'm…" she suppressed a shudder. "Marrying?"

Elinor cringed, apparently knowing that the answer wouldn't go over well. "Hiccup Haddock the Third."

Merida laughed out loud, but then she realized. Her mother was serious. The redhead groaned and lowered her head into her hands.

"He is at least your age," the queen informed her. Garnering no response, she tried again. "Merida?" Elinor whispered, reaching out to touch her arm.

Merida jerked away reflexively. "I'm fine; it's fine. I know I have to do it, and I will. I just... I need a ride on Angus right now. May I be excused?"

Elinor nodded sadly.

Merida hurried out of the room but stopped in the doorway when her mother said, "Merida?"

Without turning around, she answered, "Yes?"

"Your father and I love you, you know."

"I know."

She nodded before continuing her race to the stables without turning to look back at her parents. She didn't want them to see the tears in her eyes.

Upon reaching the stables, she didn't go for a ride as she had intended. She wasn't going to try riding when she couldn't see through her tears. She simply threw her arms around her horse, buried her face in his coarse mane and sobbed, telling herself that this would be the one and only time that she would allow herself this sort of behavior about this marriage. After all, her clan could die if she didn't go through with it. Although Merida hated the fact, her mother was right; as a princess, it was her responsibility to make sure that her people were taken care of. She had to do it; had to marry some stupid Viking named Hiccup…

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**This story should be around nine chapters long, and the chapter lengths may be unpredictable. This is my first time writing anything for HTTYD (and I'm not entirely familiar with "Brave" either), so I would really appreciate feedback on this story; it's my fuel! Thanks!:)**


	2. Merida

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" Stoic thundered. "Are you hearing me?"

A sane man would have been afraid of his father at this moment, but Hiccup apparently wasn't feeling too sane, because he stood up, toe to toe with his father although he only reached his shoulder. "I won't do it!"

"You have to;" Stoic grabbed his son by the shoulders as if he intended to shake the facts into him or else break his arms off, one of the two. "These people have food! You know we won't make it through the winter without importing provisions from the outside, and these Irish are the only ones willing to help us."

Hiccup twisted out of his father's grasp, saying, "So you send them the weapons like they've asked and leave me out of it. Wouldn't that be easier?"

"Yes, but they're _royalty_, and this is the way that they do things… and it's not unheard of around here, either, you know. I barely knew your mother when we married."

"And now we barely ever see her!"

"Because she's out protecting the village, as is her duty, and marrying this princess is yours."

"Princess?" Hiccup groaned. "You think it's a good idea for me to marry some namby-pamby, needle-point loving, spoiled little girl who probably has never even laced her own shoes and bring her here to live among the ice and the dragons? Dad, really?"

"There's nothing else that we can do, Hiccup;" Stoic said, seeming uncharacteristically helpless. "We have to take care of the villagers."

"A princess like that won't last through the winter here, Dad, you have to realize that."

Stoic shrugged, saying regretfully, "Whether or not she survives has no bearing on the contract that her parents and I have drawn up."

"Dad!"

Stoic sighed, before admitting, "I don't know, Hiccup; I think that there might be something different about this girl."

"Like what?" Hiccup asked sharply. "A princess is a princess, and that's all that there is to it."

"Well, her parents say that this princess loves archery and has fought bears."

Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "Bears? Maybe somewhere else that would be impressive, Dad, but here?" He gestured outside of their window just as a dragon swooped by. "Really?" He paused before asking, "Do they even know about the dragons?"

"Not exactly," Stoic admitted.

"Oh, okay, that's great! So what are we going to do when they come here? Have you thought of that?"

"Don't think that I haven't though this through, Hiccup!" Stoic snapped. "I have. They're not coming here. We're going there for the wedding, and then, by the time that the princess sees Berk in all of its freezing, dragon-infested glory, it'll be too late for her or her parents to back out of the contract."

"That's awful!"

"I. Don't. Have. A. _Choice_!" Stoic took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, son, but it has to be this way; there's no other option."

The chieftain turned away, affectively dismissing his child. Hiccup turned and ran out of their house, already scanning the village for Toothless. Of course the Night Fury was nowhere to be found; he was rarely around when Hiccup needed him nowadays. Taking deep breaths, Hiccup turned and ran into the forest, starting to scream for his pet.

Eventually he ran out of breath and stopped screaming, slowing to a jog as he continued walking through the forest. As he came upon the clearing where he had first found Toothless, he froze in shock, unnoticed by the other visitors to the space. He had found Toothless.

The black dragon was laying curled up in the middle of the clearing with – of all things – another Night Fury. This one was as grey as river rock and… a female. Toothless had a _girlfriend_. Well, that would explain the black dragon's sudden and frequent absences.

Hiccup turned on his heel and stumbled back through the forest. It would appear that the whole wide world was getting paired up – whether or not they wanted it.

* * *

But Hiccup would be the first to admit that Merida Dunbroch was not what he had expected her to be. While still in Ireland, she was, though, and that only served to help startle him all the more later.

As Berk's ship came into port carrying Hiccup, Stoic, and the promised weapons, the young Viking got his first chance to observe his bride-to-be. Her red hair was tucked beneath a white head covering and she was wearing a purple velvet dress with all the gold trimmings and jewelry that one might expect of royalty. Hiccup couldn't help but wonder if she felt as odd in all of her getup as he did in his best clothes, but of course she wouldn't. She was a _princess_; chances were she dressed like that every day.

At the dinner table later that night, they were seated next to one another, and even though Queen Elinor tried to get her daughter to strike up a conversation with him, she obviously wasn't in the mood. That was okay with Hiccup; he wasn't either. So they went to their separate rooms without having spoken more than a handful of pleasantries to one another.

Hiccup sighed and stretched out on the unfamiliar bed, lacing his hands behind his head and mulling over everything that he knew about Merida in his head.

She liked archery.

She wasn't afraid of bears, apparently.

She was a redhead.

She was apparently shy, or maybe just nervous, or – he cringed at the thought – angry at the situation, if tonight's lack of conversation was any indication.

And she had blue eyes. He had noticed this while they were sitting beside one another at the table. Instead of the murky green eyes that he had expected, she had sharp, glittering blue eyes. He thought that maybe he could learn to love those eyes.

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**I would really appreciate feedback on this story; it's my fuel! Thanks!:)**


	3. Dragons

The wedding took place the next morning, and Merida was relieved at how well she had held herself together during said event. But, later that afternoon, on the ship back to Berk, after she had said her goodbyes to her parents, brothers, and even Angus, she was not holding up as well,. The whole ride thus far, she had stayed curled up in a hammock below deck, letting the pitching of the ship rock her, though she hardly noticed it. The rough twisting of the waves matched the twisting of her emotions, and she knew that she was in no shape to be good company to anyone.

It was only when the rocking of the ship became peaceful that she took notice. Waiting a moment to see if the pitching would come back, Merida gathered her wits about her and got up out of the hammock when it stayed peaceful. Slowly she made her way to the upper deck and over to the side of the ship, squinting against the glow of the sun as it began to set.

She gripped the ship's edge when she heard someone approach behind her, heard a nervous swallow as long, pale hands gripped the edge of the boat beside her. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, her suspicion was confirmed – Hiccup.

"Do you need something, Princess?" he asked.

The word that flew to the tip of her tongue was one that she dare not voice. _Home. _"No, thank you," she said formally, shivering as a bitterly cold gust of wind blew her hair into her face. She saw Hiccup glance nervously at her again before he shrugged off his overcoat.

"Here," he said, laying it across her shoulders as twin blushes spread over both of their faces.

Merida pulled it closer about herself mumbling her thanks.

"We're getting close to the island now," Hiccup informed her.

"It's so cold," she observed. "Is it always so?"

"I'm afraid so."

Merida sighed internally. She hated the cold, and now not only was she going to have to live away from her family and freedom with a man that she didn't love as her husband, but she was going to have to do it on a literally freezing cold island as well.

She shivered again, more from the thought then the cold, and tugged again on the fur covering. "What is this made out of?" she asked with a flicker of a smile, almost certain that she already knew.

"Bear fur;" Hiccup answered. "I thought that it might help me make a good impression on you, if you noticed it."

"Mmm…" Merida buried her chin in the fur that covered her shoulder. "I do like it; it's warm and... reminds me of home."

Hiccup smiled a sad, awkward sort of smile, saying, "You can keep it then."

"Oh, no; I couldn't!" Merida objected.

"Yes, you can," Hiccup insisted. Merida gasped as he reached up to brush the stray strands of red hair from her face so that he could look her straight in the eyes as he whispered, "Take it as my apology gift for aiding our parents in making you go through with this arrangement."

Merida looked quickly away from him, recognizing some sort of infatuation with her glimmering beneath the surface of his hazel eyes. She opened her mouth to say something in response, but nothing could work its way past the sickness in her throat… until she gasped, noticing a flying beast approaching their ship. "What is that thing?" she asked worriedly, put off by the fact that Hiccup seemed not the least bit concerned as two more beasts appeared in the mists behind the first.

"It's all right," Hiccup said, laying the fingertips of one hand almost absently between her shoulder blades. "There are pets."

Merida squinted into the fog as the trio of animals flew closer. "But they're… dragons!"

"Why yes, yes, they are."

Merida gasped, looking wildly around for the source of the voice as the dragons stalled directly over where Merida and Hiccup stood. A black one swooped down upon Hiccup, and Merida reflexively snatched her dagger from where she kept it in a sheath on her hip. All at once, the black dragon reared back, a grey dragon similar to the first lunged towards her, the unidentified voice sharply snapped "hey," and Hiccup jerked back on her arm.

"Merida, no!" Hiccup exclaimed, clamping a shaken hand on her wrist. "That's my _pet_ – my friend – Toothless."

"Your pet," Merida breathed, stumbling backwards until she was leaning against the scrawny solidness that was Hiccup. "Is a dragon?"

"Uh-huh."

Hiccup nodded as he wrapped a gently restraining arm around her thin waist and pried her fingers from around her dagger.

"Eureka," the unidentified voice deadpanned.

The black dragon – Toothless – flew warily closer once again and Merida saw for the first time that a rider sat atop him – the unidentified voice. She was a blonde, female Viking with shrewd pale eyes.

"Sorry about that Astrid, Toothless, and…" Hiccup stammered as he looked over at the grey dragon, who was watching Merida with burning eyes. "Whatever your name is. I guess I probably should have warned Merida about the dragons before she actually _saw_ them."

"I'm right here," Merida huffed, flinging an elbow back into his ribcage so that he would release his unsettling grasp on her. "So I'll thank you to stop talking about me like I'm not."

Hiccup gasped, staggering a couple steps away from her. "Sorry, I guess I'm just new at this whole marriage thing, and I'm not…"

Where he trailed off, the girl, Astrid started back up, hopping off of Toothless' back and onto the back of the third dragon, a blue thing with many horns. "He's not good with the female of our species, or romantic, or tactful, or caring, etcetera, etcetera. I don't envy you your pathetic catch at all."

Hiccup glared up at the female Viking and she glared back before saying, "Let's go, Stormfly."

The dragon on which she now rode took flight as the ship bumped into the harbor.

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**I would really appreciate feedback on this story; it's my fuel! Thanks!:)**


	4. Adventure

**Well, as you may have noticed in the summary, this is now more than likely going to be a five-shot rather than a nine-shot. Also, a few people have mentioned "Brave" being set in Scotland versus Ireland, but I think I'm going to leave it where it is that way the distance between her family and Berk (which is also set in some part of Scotland) is a greater distance, making it more acceptable for Merida to be more upset about the move/marriage.**

* * *

Merida turned to Hiccup, deciding to mull over the glaring contest later as she said, "I'm sorry about… Toothless."

Hiccup shrugged. "Me too; I should have told you."

"Are you okay?" she asked and gestured to the area over his ribs that he was still holding.

He looked at his hands before dropping them back down to his sides, saying, "Yeah, sure; I'm used to it."

"Used to it?" Merida replied, arching her eyebrows.

"Forget it;" Hiccup said, shaking his head. "It's a long, sad story."

Merida moved a few steps closer to Hiccup, out of the way of the people who were swarming the ship now that it had docked. "I've got the time."

"Actually," Hiccup reached forward and pulled her a few more steps closer to him, out of the way of even more hungry and anxious Vikings as he glanced around at them all. "I don't think we do, at least not here." Merida saw him hesitate for a second before he ventured gesturing to his dragon, "Do you want to go for a ride?"

She surveyed the amount of space on Toothless' back on which people could sit and quickly came to the conclusion that it was too small of a space for the two of them to sit and maintain sufficient space between one another. "No, thank you."

"Oh, come on! You carry around a dagger and bow and arrows, _and_ you fight cursed bears, but you won't take a ride on a perfectly tame little dragon?"

Merida stared at him for a second, before her eyes flickered to the grey dragon that had lunged at her. Truthfully, the dragons didn't scare her half as much as Hiccup – her husband – did. She would sooner ride the murderous grey one alone then Toothless if it meant that she had to share her perch with Hiccup.

* * *

Hiccup climbed up onto Toothless' back, watching as Merida took a closer look at the grey Night Fury.

Merida cocked her head and took a step closer to Toothless' girlfriend, asking it in the same conversational tones with which she had heard Hiccup and Astrid address the dragons, "You're a girl, aren't you?"

Seemingly relaxed by the ease in Merida's voice, the grey reptile lowered herself onto the ship's deck as people fanned out to make room for her, lying down so that she could look comfortably into Merida's eyes. As Hiccup watched, the grey dragon's expression changed into what he had come to recognize as her smile. Unlike most dragons, which were rough and mostly socially inept, the grey Night Fury seemed to… get it, even better than most of the humans in Berk, Hiccup would admit. It lent her a sort of almost human-like grace that Hiccup hadn't seen before in her species. Even so, he had learned early on that – like most dragons – she was not to be angered, as she could easily turn vicious, as Merida had just learned.

But she sure didn't seem upset now. Merida took a few more steps closer, and smiled as she lifted her hand to lie gently upon the Night Fury's neck.

"I don't think she's ever been ridden before," Hiccup said warily, suddenly realizing that that's what Merida was more than likely after.

"She seems tame enough to me," Merida contradicted.

"Oh, like you're the expert on dragons here, now?" Hiccup snapped.

His father had all but said that he expected the princess to die before the upcoming winter was over, but he didn't need her to keel over this quickly. The villagers hadn't even gotten all of the food off of the ship yet!

Merida glared hotly at him from the deck before turning back to the grey dragon and crooning to her, "What do you say we try this together, then, Frostbite? Do you want to go for a ride?"

"What did you just call her?" Hiccup asked, half incredulous.

Hiccup stiffened as Merida scrambled onto the back of the grey dragon, and, once she was comfortably seated, answered, "Frostbite. Doesn't everyone on this iceberg of an island have it? I figured why not name her after it."

"You named her?!"

"Why not?" Merida asked. "Does she already have a name?"

"Well," Hiccup stammered out the admission of "no," and then asked coarsely, "So, what, is she yours now or something?"

Again that same innocent look came into Merida's eyes as she asked, "Does she already belong to someone else?"

Once again, Hiccup had to admit that, no, she did not. Merida smiled brightly, both of them knowing that she had won the argument, as she said, "Well then, yes, I guess I do claim her now, don't I?"

Hiccup sighed before reminding her, "Claiming her and flying on her are two very different things. If you can't do one then you can't do the other. Deal?"

Merida's eyes narrowed the slightest bit at him before Frostbite looked back at her and the princess met the dragon's stare. An understanding seemed to pass between the two females before Merida looked back up at him and said, "Deal," and then to her mount, "Let's show them, Frostbite."

Hiccup groaned as Frostbite took to the air – the perfect picture of obedience to her rider. "The girls are ganging up on us, Toothless," he muttered as his own pet took to the air.

Toothless looked back at him and snorted, rolling in the air a few times just to show his master that the girls weren't the only ones who could gang up on him.

"Oh, come on," Hiccup yelled at him, venting his frustrations. "Can't you just catch up to Merida and your girlfriend already? Life is going to be enough of an adventure with those two around without you being on their side too."

Toothless looked at his rider out of the corner of his eye before shooting forward at lightning speed. The dragon not only caught up to Merida and Frostbite, but surpassed them, doing a couple of cartwheels in midair.

"Yeah, sure," Hiccup snapped, keeping a death grip on Toothless' harness. "I really missed you too, buddy." When Toothless didn't stop his antics, Hiccup couldn't help but bounce back to an old line that he had used before. "Thank you; thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

Toothless screeched to a stop, suddenly doing nothing more than gently flapping his wings to stay airborne. Since he had stopped facing Merida and Frostbite, it was only then that the young Viking noticed the probable reason as to why his pet had kept up his antics. Frostbite was smiling at Toothless in a way that was remarkably similar to how a loving wife might look at her childish husband in the midst of his antics, and Merida… Merida was laughing. Hiccup's face sprouted a crookedly boyish smile as he looked at her, but when Merida noticed that his fond gaze had come to rest upon her, she frowned fiercely and raced away on the back of her newly acquired dragon.

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**Longest chapter yet! I would really appreciate feedback on this story; it's my fuel! Thanks!:)**


	5. Equality

After a few minutes of simply racing through the air at a breakneck speed, Frostbite seemed to acquire a mind of her own, and Merida wasn't sure what to do about it. She yelped the first time that her new friend suddenly swerved to the right in midair, and then yelled outright when she dived towards the ground. When the dragon skidded to a stop in the middle of a clearing, Merida realized that she was clinging to her neck, breathing raggedly.

"You could've gotten me killed! Could've killed both of us, for that matter!"

Merida slid off of Frostbite's back, continuing her rant and letting anger cover up her terror – a familiar tactic to her. She was so absorbed in scolding the dragon – who would've thought: _scolding a dragon _– to notice when Toothless landed in the clearing as well, carrying a concerned Hiccup.

"Merida?" the Viking spoke softly, lighting from his pet and walking towards her.. "Are you okay?"

She kept her back to him and walked over to the edge of a narrow stream that ran through the grassy land. Back rigid and arms folded tightly over her chest, she snapped, "Yes!"

"Really? Because you don't look okay, you know."

"Shut it, would you?" Merida snarled, hating how weak, cold and close to tears she felt as she knelt down beside the stream.

"Why do you hate me?" Hiccup asked, sounding genuinely confused. "I thought that all princesses want to get married."

At that, Merida mustered up a brittle, mocking laugh, not daring to give him her thoughts on that common misconception.

"What did I ever do to you?" Hiccup asked, and Merida could hear him edging ever closer, though she had yet to turn and look at him.

Merida hugged herself with one arm and employed the other hand in wiping away a mortifying tear as she answered, "You trapped me."

"Trapped you?" Hiccup repeated, sounding more confused than ever.

"In this… marriage."

Hiccup paused, weighing his words before he said, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm as trapped as you are."

Merida couldn't help the very unladylike snort that slipped out at that before she declared, "No, you're not."

"I'm pretty sure that I'm wearing a ring now, same as you."

"And that's the only thing that this is going to change for you!" Merida declared, her voice rapidly climbing a few octaves. "You're going to keep on riding dragons and pillaging and doing whatever else crazy things that Vikings do, and I'm going to do what while you're forever away? I'm going to be stuck in a house with a pack of filthy children far away from my home and family with no friends, and nothing to do but remind myself not to kill the dumb children!"

Following her outburst, Hiccup folded himself cross-legged onto the ground beside her. She felt him staring intently at her face, but she refused to look at him.

"Merida," his voice was a cracked version of gentle, like he was partially afraid of her, partially confused, and partially trying to help someone that he… well, loved. "Look at me, Merida."

She begrudgingly complied, knowing that her eyes were rimmed a horrid tear-induced red. Hiccup took her hand, and she almost jerked away from the touch before she realized that he was so intent on trying to form his thought that he hadn't noticed that he had even done it. Besides, the physical contact meant warmth in this frozen island nothingness.

Finally Hiccup seemed to collect his thoughts well enough to form them into words and he said, "I know exactly what it's like to be forced to stay at home and do the work that is considered domestic, and I didn't like it either."

"The chieftain's son?" Merida asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied, going into the story of how his life was before he had learned that it was possible to train the dragons instead of kill them and the fame and respect that he had garnered among the people of Berk because of that. At length, he said, "But none of that is my point; my point is that I would never ask you to remain cooped up in a house unless that's how you want it to be. You'll find that here on Berk, the women are equal with the men, really." He smiled before asking, "Does that sound okay to you?"

Merida nodded eagerly, so desperately wanting to trust what her new husband was telling her, but rather wary to do so.

"Good," Hiccup smirked. "Because I don't want some simpering, spoiled little princess; I much prefer one who isn't afraid to go after a dragon or bear with a dagger that is much too small for such tasks."

Merida almost sighed. "That was my mum's doing; she was always trying to get me to become a proper princess when I still lived at home."

"Well, I'm glad that she failed," Hiccup said, suddenly searching Merida's eyes as if he might find the answers to the world's questions therein. "I don't want someone who I can step all over; I want someone who is strong enough to stand by my side as my equal."

"You really mean that, don't you?" Merida asked timidly.

He nodded. "I do."

Merida smiled a small smile towards him, just for him, and gently squeezed his hand. Maybe – just maybe – it wouldn't be such a bad idea to give Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third a fighting chance to prove himself after all. Certainly, if he kept his word regarding what he had just said to her that would be more than enough for Merida. Hiccup looked down in surprise, noticing for the first time their intertwined hands in her lap. He looked nervously back up into her eyes.

They were honest eyes, Merida decided, windows to his soul, her mother might say. He hadn't been lying to her; they were going to be equal partners in this marriage.

Hiccup tried to pull his hand away, but Merida gently held on, so he raised their hands into the air, asking, "Are you going to kill me for this?"

Merida shook her head. "No."

"Then what are you going to do?"

His voice almost cracked, and for some reason that made her smile. She had just gotten what she wanted; she wasn't going to hurt him. But, then, what _was _she going to do about it?

"This," she whispered.

Coming to a decision and acting instantly upon it before she could change her mind, Merida leaned towards him, closing the gap between them, and kissed him. Quickly getting over his moment of shock, Hiccup pulled away from her, looking unsure of what he should do, despite knowing exactly what he wanted to do.

"Thank you," Merida whispered.

She had confused him again, she could tell, and he asked, "For what?"

"For giving me… a reason to be okay, a reason to want to learn to love you."

Hiccup smiled, suddenly getting brave as he scooted closer to her and asked, "Does it sound crazy for me to tell you that I think that I love you already?"

Merida laughed at that. "No, not really."

"Good." Hiccup laughed too, and that's when Merida really felt it.

Real happiness sprung up in her chest, and hope; both things that she had lost since her mother had announced her impending nuptials. And infatuation. She truly could see herself loving this man before her. After all, he wasn't exactly the massive, vulgar, filthy man that she had expected; if anything he was the exact opposite.

And that was when she first felt it – not quiet love, she didn't think, but rather a… stirring of affection for her Viking husband. She kissed him again, and this time he responded in kind, boldly pulling her to him. Merida obligingly wrapped her arms around his neck, and neither one of them noticed when Toothless snorted at them and flew away with Frostbite at his side, knowing that their work was done.

This wasn't what Merida had foreseen as happening, but she should have. After all, they were young adults and he was her husband – what was a girl to do but fall in love with him?

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**Longest and last chapter! I hope you enjoyed the story; sorry it ended so abruptly. I would still really appreciate feedback if you feel like it. Thanks!:)**


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